Legendary at Underbelly, Bristo Square Review
Before you enter McEwan Hall at Underbelly’s Bistro Square, you are given a piece of paper and a pencil. As you sit in the room, a projection on a white cloth backdrop asks you to write something you would say to your child or yourself as a child. The topic of childhood and memories play heavily in Cheeyang Ng’s musical Legendary.
Described as a solo ritual musical, Legendary fuses the stories of mythology with the events throughout Cheeyang’s life and the influences their mother, father and aunt had, all teaching them different values of life.
The audience is asked to join in throughout the show, singing, humming and giving suggestions, but what Cheeyang never does is talk down to their audience. So many shows, especially at Fringe, want audience participation to go a certain way, but no matter what happens, Cheeyang puts their audience first.
I didn’t really know much about mythology before this show (unless you count watching The Odyssey), and loved not only the way the stories were told, but how they were portrayed as simply human with the same flaws, doubts and hopes we all share. These stories tied in perfectly with the show’s strongest feature, its music. A lone piano player is accompanied musically by the audience throughout and Cheeyang performs every song with a voice like silk, never an off key or vocal scratch in sight. They also knew exactly when to push the emotional weight of the piece and when to pull back. I held back my tears the best I could until I got to the bathroom after the show, but I did catch quite a few people sniffling and wiping away tears.
My only complaint in the show was not being able to see the projector too well from further back in the audience since the venue does not have raised seating, but this could easily be fixed by moving the sheets used for the projector a little bit higher.
But all in all, Legendary is a jewel is this year’s fringe, asking its audience not just to remember but to reminisce and truly love themselves, whatever their flaws.
Legendary plays at 15:35 at Friesian at Underbelly, Bristo Square until 31 August.
★★★★★
Reviewed by Kerry, August 2026.
